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Due to rain on Tuesday, the Shugakukan game has been pushed back one day. It will be held tomorrow (Thursday).
-- Updated by Kirk
NHK 甲子園｜全国高校野球選手権大会
NHK（日本放送協会）が提供する全国高校野球選手権大会の実況ウェブサイトです。

In light of my post about translation this past weekend, I wanted to have a brief discussion about an interesting article concerning translations of works by Natsume Soseki, one of the most famous and admired Japanese writers of all time. As you may (or may not!) know, Soseki lived in Kumamoto for several years in the late 1890s, where he worked as a teacher before the beginning of his literary career. Soseki taught at the Fifth High School (第五高等学校), a school which later combined with other schools in the area to become Kumamoto University. In fact, part of the old Fifth High School still stands on the Kumamoto University campus and now serves as a museum. You can learn more about the building here:
http://ewww.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/dept/fifth/
If you're in Kumamoto or planning a visit, I would definitely recommend stopping by to see it!
This article about the recent first English translation of Soseki's "Nowaki" raises a very interesting topic concerning translation, this being the fact that there is a hierarchy of perceived importance among works by even the most famous authors. Just because an author is well known, much loved, and/or the focus of academic research and interest does not necessarily mean that all of that author's works will be published in translation. I find it fascinating that an English translation of one of Soseki's works, no matter how minor it is considered to be, was only published last year, in spite of the fact that his most famous works have been translated many times and into many languages. It just goes to show that the world of translation can be a very complicated one and that all sorts of factors determine what gets translated and what doesn't.
Anyway, this has ended up being a longer post than I intended, but I had a lot to say and could ramble on about this sort of thing forever! I hope you enjoy the article and visit the old Fifth High School building if you haven't done so already.
-Grace
Minor Soseki work gets first English translation | The Japan Times
NOWAKI, by Natsume Soseki, translated and with an afterword by William N. Ridgeway. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2011, 120 pp.,

This information is about a phone consultation service that is offered by Fukuoka Prefecture but, as far as I can see, should be open to people calling from areas to the south of Fukuoka as well. It's a 24 hour service and a wide variety of languages are supported: English, Chinese, Korea, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Tagalog, Nepali, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Russian.
The prefecture is also offering interpreting via telephone to doctors in Fukuoka. I don't know if a similar service is available here. Here's the address of a Japanese page with more information:
http://www.pref.fukuoka.lg.jp/contents/ajisapo-callcenter.html
I happened to learn about this from a recent segment in a regional news show. A doctor who was going out of his way to look after people who do not understand Japanese (Dr. Tomoya Hinoki of the Fukuoka Hinoki Clinic) said that the Japanese point system winds up being a disincentive for hospitals and clinics to take the time required to communicate properly through an interpreter. Dr. Hinoki said that he may take as much as three times longer to interact with a patient through an interpreter than he would need to take for a comparable level of care with a patient who is fluent in Japanese. Regardless of that added burden, however, the Japanese point system has a fixed price for each procedure. So, if doctors seem to be in a hurry, part of the problem may be with the system.
In addition, here's the URL of an English page with more medical information:
http://www.rainbowfia.or.jp/en/living/03.html
It needs to be updated. For example, it doesn't have information about this new service yet. But it has other numbers and information that may be helpful.
Finally, I'd like to note that I had to work to find this information. The Japanese TV program talked about the service and how they want more foreigners to use it but then neglected to share a phone number or URL. I was able to find information in Japanese about the service on Fukuoka Prefecture's website but, as you can see, their English "Medical Care and Welfare" information section does not contain an appropriate link:
http://www.pref.fukuoka.lg.jp/somu/multilingual/english/living.html
I wound up searching the web for the phone number I found on the Japanese page, and that took me to the Fukuoka Now article. Not exactly something you can expect of foreign tourists or residents lacking language skills when they are not feeling well!
It seems they are spending lots of money to run this service for people who don't understand Japanese but only announcing it in English. To it's credit, Fukuoka Now has made this English announcement, but they had to get the information from a Japanese newspaper announcement. Curiouser and curiouser!
-- Kirk
http://www.fukuoka-now.com/en/news/medical-telephone-support-expanded/
Medical Telephone Support Expanded
Fukuoka Prefecture announced the expansion of services of a multilingual call center for help with medical issues on April 3. Previously the medical support line was only available in three languag…

As a severely hair-challenged person (translation: I'm virtually bald), I don't have any use for hair salons but, for those of you who still have hair and would like to make it look nice, I thought I'd share a bit of information that I found on the KumAJET group:
"I just had my hair done at United People on Thursday. Arie-san gave me one of the best haircuts I've ever had! She worked in New York City for 15 years."
Here's the address of United People's Facebook page, which includes a map showing the location.
https://www.facebook.com/Unitedpeopleユナイテッドピープル-1555633234686629/
And, for your reference, here's the address of the KumAJET group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/45261511655/
-- Kirk
United・People / 熊本 南千反畑町　美容室 再現性の高いスタンディングカット

Joe Tomei here. A former student, Hiroko Ogata, is organizing a workshop on teaching and improvisation to be held on 1 Oct here in Kumamoto. It will be in Japanese, led by Ikegame sensei, from the Japanese NPO Creative Debate for GRASSROOTS. Their website is http://grassroots-edu.com/ and it looks interesting. I'm hoping to attend if I'm free (a pretty big assumption these days), but if you want to check it out (and maybe give your Japanese a workout), let me know.
2017年10月９日（月・祝） 『協働的な授業リフレクション研究会 in 広島』 今年度３月に発足した『リフレクション』をテーマにした研究会が、広島にやってきます。 ２つの授業を受けた後、上條先生のガイドでリフレクション・ワークを丁寧に行います。 教師の底力を掘り起こす、新しいカタチの深い学びを体験してください。 10:00-10:10 自己紹介的アイスブレイク（運営スタッフ） 10:10-11:00 「演劇的手法を使った英語授業」池亀がめら 11:00-12:00 リフレクション 上條晴夫 ランチ 13:00-13:50 「特別支援教育におけるコミュニケーション支援」 ～子どもからの自発を目...

Hi everyone! My name is Grace and this is my first post for Kumamoto International. I lived in Kumamoto from 2012 to 2013 as a university exchange student. After leaving Kumamoto I did a Master's degree in translation studies and then became a professional translator. Kumamoto will always hold a special place in my heart, and I'm excited to help share interesting news and info about Kumamoto with all of you readers here.
Though this first link I'm going to share isn't directly related to Kumamoto, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk a bit about translation and the translation-related career paths available to any of you who may still be students or who may be considering a future career working with Japanese. Think of it as a peek into the world of a professional translator, if that's something you happen to be curious about!
Over the next week or so I'm going to try to bring this back around into a more focused discussion about Kumamoto (and dialects in the area), so stay tuned. :)
-Grace
The Realities and Benefits of Translation as a Full-time Job – An Introduction
This week we have a special guest article on translation by a professional in the field. Ever wonder what it takes to be a translator? Considering going outside of academia with your Japanese? See …

As rhetoric between North Korea and the U.S. heats up, I thought I'd briefly consider how Kumamoto's geographical location relates to all of this. I'm worried about the possibility of further escalation in general terms but I'm not feeling particularly vulnerable because I happen to be in Kumamoto. So, I'm not trying to be alarmist at all but am merely interested in clarifying where we stand geographically, so to speak.
Firstly, Kumamoto's relative proximity to the Korean peninsula puts us, according to a report in the New York Times, within scud missile range (see first image). Of course, North Korea would be crazy to launch a scud missile at Kyushu but, nonetheless, that seems to be a technical possibility.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/10/world/asia/what-can-north-korea-reach-with-its-missiles.html
Secondly, in regard to the question "Would a missile launched at Guam fly over our heads?", the short answer is "probably not." Here's a TIME.com report:
"The report said the Hwasong-12 rockets would fly over Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi prefectures in Japan and travel '1,065 seconds before hitting the waters 30 to 40 kilometers away from Guam.'"
http://time.com/4894948/north-korea-plan-guam-missiles/
But, you might see an image like this second one (taken from Korean media by the Guardian) that makes it look like the missiles will fly right over Kyushu:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/10/north-korea-details-guam-strike-trump-load-of-nonsense
There are two problems with this. First, the curvature of the earth is such that the straight line that was drawn on the screen in the TV studio is not a geographically correct "straight line" (a line that follows the curvature of the earth would transverse Japan a bit farther to the east). Second, I think it is generally being assumed that North Korea would launch from a point farther east than this image indicates. It is true, however, that if North Korean picked a point in the far western part of its territory for a launch aimed at Guam, the missiles tragectory would come a good deal closer to our area.
Well, that's all I have to offer tonight. Here's hoping that cooler heads prevail and that military conflict can be averted.
-- Kirk

Here's an article about Mika and Stoltzman. As the article points out, Mika is originally from Kumamoto. I had the pleasure of hearing the couple play with Steve Gadd at the Prefectural Theatre a few years ago.
-- Kirk
http://marblehead.wickedlocal.com/entertainmentlife/20170810/winchester-couple-makes-great-music-together
Winchester couple makes great music together
Jazz will meet classical, classical will meet blues, and the sounds of it all will range from hauntingly beautiful to joyously exciting when clarinetist

According to this article, construction of a large solar park is beginning in Yamaga.
A map included in the following Wikipedia article indicates that Kyushu has high potential for solar energy production:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Japan
A year or so ago, however, it looked like the Japanese government was trying to put the brakes on Japan's solar energy boom:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/14/national/sun-no-longer-shines-japans-solar-boom-subsidies-wane/
At any rate, I'm glad to see renewable energy being developed here.
-- Kirk
https://renewablesnow.com/news/smart-solar-breaks-ground-on-345-mw-solar-park-in-kumamoto-579294/
Smart Solar breaks ground on 34.5-MW solar park in Kumamoto
Aug 10 (Renewables Now) - Japanese company Smart Solar Corp announced recently the start of construction works on a photovoltaic (PV) plant of 34

Here's a report about the impact of the earthquakes on Sony Kumamoto:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2017/08/10/sony-kumamoto-earthquake-first-public-footage-devastating
-- Kirk
Sony Kumamoto Earthquake - first public footage, DEVASTATING!
In April of 2016, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto, Japan, the home of the Sony factory that makes a majority of the image sensor chips for the camera industry. Only 20 kilometers from the epicenter of the shallow, violent…

Shugakukan, ostensibly of Kumamoto, has won it's first game in the Koshien Tournament currently under way. I say "ostensibly of Kumamoto" because, though the school is located in Kumamoto, all of the starting players are from other parts of japan (this year as was the case last year):
https://www.kyureki.com/koko/121/1538/
As a long-term interloper here, I guess I should be open to young people coming here from other locations and, of course, ordinarily I would be. But in this case, Shugakukan works with some of the best young baseball prodigies that can be found in Japan while other coaches here have to work with the local students who happen to attend their school. Then those truly local schools must compete with Shugakukan to see who gets to represent Kumamoto in the national tournament.
With this tournament, Shugakukan is representing Kumamoto for the fourth consecutive time since the spring of 2016: spring '16, summer '16, spring '17, summer '17. We'll see how well they do in this tournament but in the previous 3 tournaments they made it to the final four each time:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/秀岳館高等学校
Their domination has a relatively short history but there is no indication that it is likely to end in the near future.
So, my beef with Shugakukan is that, basically, kids from other "normal" schools hardly have a chance. I don't really understand how it happened but this year Kumamoto Kogyo also participated in the spring tournament as a representative of Kumamoto. Perhaps there was some recognition that Shugakukan was in a different category. I don't know.
I guess it would be kind of cool, in a way, if Shugakukan could win the tournament for Kumamoto this year. But I would be able to root much more enthusiastically if I were rooting for a group of local kids who, by dint of sheer effort and determination, had managed to come together to win their way to the top.
-- This rant has been brought to you by Kirk
https://mainichi.jp/koshien/articles/20170811/k00/00e/050/278000c
夏の高校野球：先制攻撃で秀岳館　横浜に競り勝ち初戦突破 - 毎日新聞
　第９９回全国高校野球選手権大会は第４日の１１日、１回戦４試合。第２試合は、横浜（神奈川）と秀岳館（熊本）の対戦。強豪同士の注目の試合は、初回に３得点をあげた秀岳館（熊本）が６－４で横浜（神奈川）を降し２回戦へ進んだ。

I posted about these quake resistant homes last year
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1165323783541052
and am prompted to post again because of this recent article in the UK's "The Sun":
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4149296/japan-fruit-themed-resort-earthquake-resistant-homes/
If you're looking for more detail, I recommend that Mainichi article I introduced last year:
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160710/p2a/00m/0na/002000c
If you prefer Japanese, you can read the Japanese version of the Mainichi article here:
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20160630/k00/00m/040/116000c
ドームハウス 地震に強い…被害わずか、６００人避難
-- Kirk
Inside the bizarre Japanese 'health resort' filled with hundreds of Teletubbies-style homes built to withstand earthquakes
THEY might look like something out of a kid’s TV show but these bizarre foam houses are actually built to withstand earthquakes. Kumamoto in Japan was ripped apart by a magnitude 7.0 quake la…

Yesterday I posted about medical interpreting:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1551050794968347
When, I posted, I had been unable to find information that a person in Kumamoto could use to find help. I did, however, find a Japanese pdf by Hiroko Saisho, the representative of Medical Support Kumamoto:
http://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/Upload/topics/p1_7421_21161201434517.pdf
The pdf contains Hiroko's e-mail and phone number but I wasn't sure if it would be OK to publish that information here. Thankfully, Hiroko has confirmed that she is happy to have the information published here:
090-2968-4971(最相)
E-mail: [email protected]
Here's part of her message to me:
"Anyone who needs the help of interpreter can contact me through e-mail or call me. If the hospital is either one among Kokuritsu hospital, Kumadai hospital, Nisseki or Fukuda hospital, patients don't need to pay for the interpretation. The fee is not regular interpreter fee. It is just 3000 yen."
Hiroko works with the English language but I think she could help you find someone to help with another language.
-- Kirk

"World Monuments Fund announced today their partnership with Kumamoto Machinami Trust (KMT) supporting local community efforts in Kumamoto Castle Town, Japan, to restore several iconic structures damaged by the Kumamoto Earthquake in April 2016. World Monuments Fund’s efforts are made possible by a generous grant from the Freeman Foundation."
http://artdaily.com/news/97984/World-Monuments-Fund-to-restore-Kumamoto-earthquake-damage
-- Copied and pasted by Kirk
World Monuments Fund to restore Kumamoto earthquake damage
a href= http://www.wmf.org target= _blank World Monuments Fund /a announced today their partnership with Kumamoto Machinami Trust (KMT) supporting

I just saw an NHK news segment about medical interpreting services in Saga Prefecture. Apparently, there has been a sudden rise in the non-Japanese population there, and that his brought an increased need for medical interpreters.
I know that the Kumamoto City International Foundation has been striving to train more medical interpreters. Here, for example, is a Japanese page about one such event that was held in April
2017年度 第2回医療通訳ボランティア養成講座オリエンテーション
http://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/event/event_detail.asp?id=2&kiji_id=9151&LC=j
The TV segment made me realize, however, that I don't know what a non-Japanese person in Kumamoto who would like to get some help from an interpreter should do. If anyone knows, please write a comment to this post. Thanks!
-- Kirk
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/k/saga/5085737611.html
外国人のための無料健康相談 - NHK佐賀県のニュース
佐賀県のニュースをいち早くお伝えします。

The typhoon seems to have passed without incident but left a rainbow which some of our friends captured. Thank you, all! - William

According to TropicalStorm.com, the anticipated path of the storm has shifted to the east. That's good news for us. The site still says that we're likely to get some strong winds, but I don't think they take topography (the Aso mountains, etc) into account when they generate these maps. JMA is still warning of strong winds and rain in our area so it's probably premature to plan a picnic for this afternoon but, as Joe suggested, you may want to take advantage of the relatively mild weather while you can. -- Kirk

Well, since Typhoon Noru-chan decided to go somewhere else, folks may want to go River Port 9, on the far side of Taiko bashi (the bridge that carries the densha), and check out the Shirakawa Summer Matsuri. -- Joe

This Japanese website provides a chronological guide to fireworks events in Kumamoto. I should have posted this earlier, as a couple of major events have already been held. There's still lots more to come, though. I realize that the timing of this post may be a bit odd, with the typhoon approaching, but I thought I should get the information out before I forget.
If you're unable to read Japanese, I suggest that you use the translation function on the Google Chrome browser. I just tested it and found that, while place names are not always rendered correctly, the translation is good enough to function as a heads up about upcoming opportunities.
-- Kirk
熊本県の花火大会2017まとめ | 花火大会ガイド2017
2017年(平成29年)に「熊本県」で開催される花火大会(33ヵ所)の日程、打ち上げ数、開催場所などを一覧にまとめています。

According to http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com, all regions of Kumamoto are quite likely to be experiencing tropic storm winds (see key in second image) in about 24 hours. Over the years, my experience with this site (TropicalStorm.com, that is) is that actual events are sometimes considerably less severe than predicted but, importantly, are sometimes more severe. Since weather and climate are chaotic systems (that is, systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions), prediction is never an exact science. It's better to err on the side of caution.
Also, I heard on TV that it's possible that wind and rain will pick up just as the system is about to leave our area. This is because cyclones spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and so air and moisture from the southwest may be sucked in just after the system passes overhead. At any rate, I'd like to encourage everyone to take this seriously -- assume the worst, and hope for the best.
-- Kirk
P.S. I also heard on TV that the arrival of the storm will coincide with high tide. This could cause a dangerous storm surge in coastal areas. Please plan ahead so that you don't wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time.